After all my recent positivity, it's time for a little grumble. I haven't run this week, in fact, I haven't really run since last Friday...and my efforts last week were actually a bit mediocre (a 6.5 and a 3.5).
So what happened?
And there was the sleep monster. The Tyndrum weekend left me a bit sleepy, so I had some 'extra' rest days at the start of the week (which is never a great start to the week), and it never really recovered.
The dog has also taken to causing increased mayhem in the hours of darkness, by going ballistic at the milkman, or anything that seemingly makes a noise in the wee small hours...I don't function well on lost sleep (haha...remind me why I'm doing WHW?), nor do I get back to sleep easy once I've been disrupted!
That aside, I headed out to Aberfoyle on Saturday morning for 22 miles in the rain...well, best laid plans and all that.....and 1 mile in....OUCH...calf seized up for no apparent reason. I tried to rationalise the situation in my head, give it a wee massage, walk a wee bit, and then the logical, sensible part of my brain kicked in, and I bailed on the run, and walked (albeit a slightly scenic route) back to the car.
Afternoon of sofa-coma was the answer of the day...rest, ice, compression, elevation...we all know the drill. Oh yes, and the power eating of family bags of crisps....(thanks Tyrell's for answering my complaint with a big box full of "complimentary samples" to retain my custom!
To fend off some of the grumpiness, Sunday morning I beat the crap out of the punchbag and lifted some weights.
Sunday afternoon I had a massage booked, so got a taste of my own medicine (yes, I'm a squealer) to try and work the lumps and strains out of the offending leg.
And since then, more rest, some anti-inflammatories, some stretching, some more crisps.... and a wee spin this morning....gently does it..... There's less pain, and more strength, so I'm hoping positive progress!
Tomorrow morning I'm going to try a wee run...short and slow and flatish....no heroics! I'm working from home tomorrow, so at least I can sit with my leg up and the ice on if need be...no-one will hear me scream....
I've been trying to analyse the potential causes...no real conclusion as yet:
- 3 or 4 recent runs in new trainers (Cascadia 8 rather than 7's)
- couple of bigger mileage weeks (but not beyond the realms of sensible progression)
- some recent road running (but in tried and tested Asics Cumulus)
- pain in my big toe (left foot...usually I only have some intermittent pain in my right big toe), I think due to a change in gait I hadn't picked up on...maybe older shoes wearing out, maybe a delay in getting my massage done, maybe a lapse in stretching/foam rolling?
-general tiredness (possible dehydration after day travelling on Friday?)
- increased amount of driving during the week (I'm a clutch-rider with my left foot)
So, with 72 days left to toe the WHW start line (and 16 until the Fling), sensible is the order of the day, regardless of cause. Little by little I'll chip away and test and learn and get better, stronger and fixed!
It's tough, mentally painful and frustrating...but I know it's right! And, above all, I know I can do this!
you can xxx
ReplyDeleteOuch.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat... out of the blue my left calf got sore during a post marathon recovery run a week ago. I tried to run on it the following day, big mistake. Took two days off then it felt fine ran, still no good, then took three days off, then ran and finally it looks to be on the mend and have slowly built the mileage up on runs since. Other bits of my body are now complaining too... so will need to take it rather easier than I had planned, not worth any heroics so close to Fling.
From what I've read anti-inflammatory drugs might reduce the discomfort but they also switch off a component of your immune system so will imped recovery. It's better to recover more quickly and put up with a bit of discomfort than risk an incomplete recovery.
Stretching an muscle strain is also not recommended - the muscle fibres around the injury site shortened to take the load off the damaged fibres so they can heal, if you stretch you just open up the damage site and potentially cause more damage. Be patient once your muscle fibre is stitched back together the rest of muscle fibres will relax and you'll feel supple again.
Massage has found to be beneficial for recovery though, but if the site is still tender and inflamed you probably don't need to stimulate blood flow and the immune system any further, just later nature do it's thing, once it starts relaxing then massage can help blood flow and stimulate the immune system.
Active recovery also helps. Walking and swimming as long as the injury isn't painful you should be OK to do it. For minor strains if you take proper care of it then it should be possible to get back running in a week.
Sleep and avoiding stress is also important. Sounds like you work, dog and ambitious training runs have all compounded to create lots of stress but less sleep to recover from it all. Burning the candle at both ends is classic way of upping the chance of injury.
I found the Sock Doc website a great source of info on training and healing:
http://sock-doc.com/
Best of luck with recovery.